Almost one in five doctors has recently worked alongside an incompetent colleague, a survey has found. Although most said that they had reported the failing doctor, more than a quarter had not.
Fear of “retribution” against whistleblowers was the main reason for keeping silent, prompting calls from leading doctors for a greater “culture of openness” in the NHS. Less than two thirds of doctors felt it was their duty to report incompetent colleagues.
The survey of 1,000 British GPs and hospital doctors was compared with responses from 2,000 American doctors, who said that they would be much less scared of reporting a failing colleague, with only 12 per cent giving fear of retribution as a reason for saying nothing, compared with 34 per cent in Britain.
Researchers in Cambridge and Manchester, who carried out the survey, said that the difference might reflect “unsympathetic treatment of whistleblowers which has been widely reported in the British medical press” in Britain.
In a recent survey for the British Medical Association, 16 per cent of doctors who had reported a concern about a colleague said they had been told their employment could be “negatively affected” by speaking out.
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That followed high profile cases such as Margaret Haywood, the nurse who was struck off for secretly filming the neglect of patients at the Royal Sussex Hospital in Brighton, and Stephen Bolsin, the anaesthetist who was forced to emigrate to Australia after exposing high death rates among children undergoing surgery at the Bristol Royal Infirmary. Regulators investing the scandal at Stafford Hospital, where hundreds died unneccessarily, have also criticised a “culture of silence” over the failures.
Dr Mark Porter, chairman of the BMA’s consultants committee, said: “Raising a concern about patient safety, particularly when a colleague is involved, can take courage. The NHS needs to encourage a culture of openness.
“Our primary responsibility as doctors is to our patients, no matter what obligations we have to any other parties.”
The survey is published in the journal BMJ Quality and Safety.